Quitting my great job for an adventure in Toronto

Follow Brian Sheehy’s progress as he jets off to Canada on a two-year IEC visa

Brian Sheehy, originally from West Cork, is leaving his job with a multinational insurance company in Dublin to emigrate to Toronto on a two-year visa in March. Video: Bryan O'Brien

Brian Sheehy: ‘I want to see how I cope in a foreign country without any support network.’ Photograph: Bryan O’Brien / The Irish Times

Brian Sheehy (27), from Baltimore in west Cork, is quitting his job in insurance in Dublin to move to Toronto. We’ll be following his progress throughout the year as he settles into his new life abroad. Here, he talks about his reasons for leaving Dublin.

“I am emigrating to Canada to challenge myself. I want to see how I cope in a foreign country without any support network. I want the challenge of finding a new job, a new house and new friends.

“A lot of people I grew up with have emigrated to find work. Visiting them in Canada and Australia, and watching their lives online over the years has made me jealous. I was focused on my career after college, but recently my desire to travel has grown. It is now or never: when I’m 30 I might have a family or a house tying me here.

“I was really lucky to get one of the two-year working holiday visas for Canada last January before the quota for the year sold out. I’m leaving in March, to be there for St Patrick’s Day. Through Facebook I’ve got to know other Irish people going over and we’ve arranged to meet up. I’ve booked a hotel for the first few nights, before I move to a hostel, where I’ll stay while looking for a place to live and a job.

“I’m not worried about leaving my friends behind, we’ll always keep in touch, but I’m upset to be leaving my family. I’m sad too to be leaving my job. I’ve got on well there and made good friends. I don’t know Toronto so I have no idea how it will work out – I could still be there in five years or I could be back in six months.”

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